The Ganges road weaves north across the Plateau des Garrigues, a landscape of scrubby trees, thorns and fragrant herbs cut by torrent beds. The plateau is dominated by the high limestone ridge of the Pic St-Loup until you reach the first worthwhile stopping place, ST-MARTIN-DE-LONDRES, 25km on, whose name derives from the old Celtic word for "swamp".It's a lovely little place of arcaded houses and cobbled passageways set around the roadside place de la Fontaine. Its pride is an exceptionally handsome early Romanesque church, reached through a vaulted passage just uphill from the square. The honey-coloured stone is simply decorated with Lombard arcading, the plain rounded porch with a worn relief of St Martin on horseback, while the interior has an unusual clover-shaped ground plan. There's no hotel, only a gîte, La Bergerie du Bayle (tel & fax 04.67.55.72.16, [email protected]), which also serves good-value meals. The campsite, Pic de Loup (tel 04.67.55.00.53; closed Oct–March), is just east of town on the main road. About 6km south, off the Gignac road near Viols-le-Fort (on the bus route) and the Château de Cambous, there's a marvellous prehistoric village (May & June Sat & Sun 2–6pm; July to mid-Sept Tues, Wed & Fri–Sun 3.30–7pm; mid-Sept to April Sun 2–6pm; 3), dating from 2500 BC and only discovered in 1967. The site consists of a group of cabins, each about 20m long, their outlines clearly delineated, with the holes for the roof supports and the door slabs still in place. A reconstruction shows them to have been much like the sheep stalls in the old bergeries that dot the plateau. Further north, almost as far as Ganges, through dramatic river gorges, you reach the Grotte des Demoiselles (April–June & Sept 9am–noon & 2–6pm; July & Aug 9am–7pm; Oct–March 9.30am–noon & 2–5pm; www.demoiselles.com; 7), the most spectacular of the region's many caves: a set of vast cathedral-like caverns hung with stalactites descending with millennial slowness to meet the limpid waters of eerily still pools. Deep inside the mountain, it's reached by funicular (hourly departures). GANGES itself, 46km from Montpellier and also connected by regular buses (which continue to Le Vigan on the southern edge of the Cévennes), is a rather nondescript but busy market town (Friday's the day), whose old quarter is notable for its vaulted alleys designed for defence in the Wars of Religion. This, too, was a Protestant town, peopled by refugees from the plains, who made it famous for its silk stockings. It was here that the last-ditch revolt of The Camisards earned its name; the rebels sacked and pillaged a shirt factory and went off wearing the shirts (chemises/camises). The tourist office (Mon–Fri 10am–noon & 2–6pm, Sat 10am–noon; tel 04.67.73.00.56) is on plan de l'Ormeau. On the same square you'll find a hotel, the basic De la Poste (tel 04.67.73.85.88, fax 04.67.73.83.79; 30–40; closed Jan), which is the best bet in town. Just outside on the road towards Navacelles, is the beautifully sited Hotel des Gorges de Vis (tel 04.67.73.85.05; under 30) a good option if you have transport. The campsite Auberge du Montolieu lies on the route de Vigan on the edge of town. For somewhere to eat, try Le Josyln' Melodie (tel 04.67.73.66.02; closed Wed; menus 15), a homely little Lyonnais place at 4 place Fabre d'Olivet.
Pages in section ‘Ganges route’: The Camisards.
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